The basic underlying point of many laws like the one about turning into the leftmost lane is the simple concept that what cars on the road are doing should be predictable. Same reason turn signals are required for turns and lane changes.
More than once I’ve made a proper left-hand turn into the left-hand lane and then, once established in the roadway, tried to move into the right lane, only to find that some asshole behind me had made the same turn but into the right-hand lane so he could speed past me. It was basically a car that had come out of nowhere.
I try hard to practice safe driving of the most conservative kind, but you just can’t protect yourself against total assholes. Just a couple of days ago, on the drive home from another town, I waited for a left turn after missing the advanced green, so I pulled into the intersection and waited for the yellow light. Knowing that asshole drivers will sometimes try to run a yellow light, I waited for a few more seconds, and the light turned red. I went ahead with my turn (perfectly legal once you’re already in the intersection) and almost got rammed by a speeding vehicle that had sped up to try to run the yellow light and at that point was actually running a red light. These are the times that I wish I was a cop in an unmarked car – man, that guy would get no mercy.
Not sure if you are referring to this in a car or on a bike, but this is exactly why, on a bike, I turn into the left-most lane. Cars will often make a mad dash for the right lane to get around the gawd-damned asshole slow bike in front of them. If a car doesn’t do that, I make sure I signal I’m moving into the right lane immediately and pay close attention to the death mobiles behind me (I have a large mirror on my helmet).
I try to avoid riding in cities in general and if I do, stick to less busy streets.
This makes no sense to me. Start with a very wide turn from the center of the rightmost left turn lane and there’s just no way that a “mad dash for the right lane” is even possible, much less more appealing to a motorist than a quick cut to the inside.
Honestly, as someone who rides his bike 8 miles round trip to/from work each day (but alas, only uphill one way), I am flummoxed as to how anyone could have this problem. I hate to say you’re doing it wrong… but I’m pretty sure you’re doing it wrong.
In the image, I’m the blue car, but on a bike. I make the legal turn as shown. Cars behind me will make a “mad dash for the right lane” as shown in the red “incorrect”. It’s very possible for a car to do that. And has happened to me. The appeal is getting around the slow cyclist.
Not sure how I’m doing it wrong.
Edit to add: Maybe it is legal in your state to turn directly into the “incorrect” right lane. That is illegal here.
You’re not. I can’t fathom why your previous explanations weren’t clear to so many. Maybe because I deal with this exact situation on my way home every time I ride. Or used to, until I started doing something completely illegal to avoid that intersection. I ride through a private subdivision and an office park.
Some drivers just don’t care. Actually some of my neighbors have actually said that if I ride on the roads and get hurt or killed, I have only myself to blame. One of these folks is our former police chief!
Wow. I’d never make the left I routinely make if I had to do that. Also, that 3-4-5 move is illegal. Also, moving directly into the right lane could get you smashed by the person coming from the opposite direction turning right into that very same lane. Not that I would turn at that time, but I have a legal right to do so.
It’s not illegal where I live, and I question if it’s really illegal where you live, assuming that the law in your jurisdiction requires bicycles to operate in the right-most lane except when, for example, making a left turn (in which case they will need to take the left lane to turn, but I daresay ought to be expected to turn into the right lane if turning onto a two-lane road).
It’s illegal in the states I ride in (Pacific NW). Cars coming the other direction and turning right have dibs on that right-most lane.
What state are you in that allows a car turning left onto a multi-lane road to immediately take the right-most lane? Or is it an oddity only for cyclists?
Texas Transportation Code - TRANSP § 545.101. Turning at Intersection
…
(b) To make a left turn at an intersection, an operator shall:
(1) approach the intersection in the extreme left-hand lane lawfully available to a vehicle moving in the direction of the vehicle; and
(2) after entering the intersection, turn left, leaving the intersection so as to arrive in a lane lawfully available to traffic moving in the direction of the vehicle on the roadway being entered.
So, in Texas, any vehicle making a left turn can do so into any “lane lawfully available to traffic,” meaning left, right or other if it’s a multi-lane road.
Moreover, for bikes specifically:
Texas Transportation Code - TRANSP § 551.103. Operation on Roadway
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person operating a bicycle on a roadway who is moving slower than the other traffic on the roadway shall ride as near as practicable to the right curb or edge of the roadway, unless:
…
(2) the person is preparing to turn left at an intersection or onto a private road or driveway;
So, prepare to turn and then turn left from the left lane, and then come out of the turn as near as practicable to the right curb as possible.
And I would daresay that if your state has any kind of a law like the one immediately above, requiring you to ride as near to the right curb as possible, then that should supersede whatever normal requirement there might be for a motorized vehicle to turn into the left-most lane only. Plus, as I have been saying at length, it’s just safer: it opens up the inside of the turn to motor vehicles immediately, and thus avoids the danger of them trying to pass you on the right as you yourself are also trying to shift right.
Not legal here. Looks like different states have different rules. Pretty sure I’m not doing it wrong.
Here is an example. Pay attention to (1)(a)
Also, the turn I am referring to is a 25 to 25 MPH road. I am not going below the speed limit on this turn. But people road rage to get around a bike no matter what. If I illegally dart into the right lane, I can get squished.
Yes, it’s illegal in Illinois and Washington (or was when I took the driver’s test). In fact, that was one of the turns they had you do on the test to catch you in an error. Most people would just turn into the right lane. You had to turn into the left lane, then signal right, and immediately move over so that you’re driving in the proper right lane. Our Driver’s Ed instructor warned us about it.
Nothing in that contradicts my position that you are supposed to turn into the right edge of the rightmost lane after making a left turn while on a bicycle:
(1) Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a rate of speed less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and place shall ride as near to the right side of the right through lane as is safe except:
(a) While preparing to make or while making turning movements at an intersection or into a private road or driveway;
You get to be in the left lane when preparing to make a left turn. When coming out of a left turn, you’re no loner “preparing”, so (1) should apply: ride as near to the right side as possible. The alternative (which apparently seems normal to you) is dangerous.
I give up. If you are in WA State and pull that move, it is illegal. I know the intersection I speak of and it is a dangerous move. I’ve been through it hundreds of times.
And for my part, I think your act of turning into the left lane knowing full well that cars behind you will now be incentivized to pass you on the right (thus hemming you in to the left lane longer) is both dangerous and, arguably, illegal in your state as well. Because your state law explicitly requires you to ride as near to the right curb as possible, except for certain enumerated circumstances, and coming out of a turn isn’t one of them.
Coming out of a turn is very much part of “while making turning movements”. It is illegal in a car to go to the right lane while turning left and cyclists are supposed to follow most of the laws of cars so turning as a car does is very much part of being a predicable user of the roads.
Again, I could be on a bike and turning left onto a multi-lane road and a car coming the other direction could be turning right onto the same road and has absolute rights to that right-most lane. Not that I would turn left then, but we can both legally turn onto that road at the same time. I take the left lane, they take the right lane.
We live in different parts of the US with different rules, and you obviously have a different interpretation of things. I think you are doing it wrong.
For the record, the actual wording of the law on left turns for vehicles in Washington state is:
RCW 46.61.290
Required position and method of turning at intersections.
The driver of a vehicle intending to turn shall do so as follows:
…
(2) Left turns. The driver of a vehicle intending to turn left shall approach the turn in the extreme left-hand lane lawfully available to traffic moving in the direction of travel of the vehicle. Whenever practicable the left turn shall be made to the left of the center of the intersection and so as to leave the intersection or other location in the extreme left-hand lane lawfully available to traffic moving in the same direction as the vehicle on the roadway being entered.
Emphasis added. It’s not an absolute, it’s “whenever practicable.” If you are on a bike that is required to stick as near as possible to the right curb, I’d say turning into the left lane is simply not “practicable.”
